Today's News by Jack Nerad for Driving Today

Do Luxury-car Drivers Have a Sense of Entitlement?

Wednesday, July 28, 2010

If you drive a luxury car, do you feel you can get away with things because … well, because you’re entitled to? Or do you feel you are singled out because law enforcement thinks you’re rich?  

Conventional wisdom might suggest to you that people with nicer vehicles get all the breaks, but a new LeaseTrader survey indicates that luxury car drivers might experience both ends of the spectrum, while those with less flashy cars seem content to fly under the radar.

LeaseTrader, a nationwide online marketplace for car leases, recently polled roughly 2,000 drivers across America to find out if they believe they can get away with a traffic violation based on what they drive. The poll queried drivers on their likelihood of getting tickets for speeding, red-light infractions, parking violations and illegal U-turns. The survey consisted of drivers in four different sets of vehicles:

1.  Economy (Ford Focus, Chevy Cobalt)

2.  Midsize (Honda Accord, Toyota Camry)

3.  SUV/Truck (Chevy Tahoe, Ford F-150)

4.  Luxury (BMW 7 Series, Mercedes-Benz M-Class)

The survey showed that luxury drivers across the board feel they get away with less compared with the other three groupings of drivers. Some 63.2 percent of luxury drivers feel they will get a speeding ticket if they travel 10 miles per hour faster than the limit, compared with 45.8 percent of midsize-car drivers, 28.2 percent of economy-car drivers and 41.2 percent of SUV/truck drivers. People leasing luxury cars feel they have a “false sense of entitlement” when it comes to speeding.

The under-the-radar economy-car drivers also feel they’re least likely to get a ticket running a red light (15.7 percent), including red-light camera areas, because they feel their cars don’t stand out as much as the rest. On the other side of the coin, 62.1 percent of luxury-car drivers felt they were likely to get a ticket for running a red light, followed by 43.6 percent of SUV/truck drivers and 35.7 percent of midsize-car drivers.

The worm turns when it comes to parking tickets, though. Some 72.5 percent of luxury-car drivers said they wouldn’t receive a ticket for parking illegally, possibly because of a feeling of entitlement or because they’re just feeling lucky. Midsize-car drivers were next in the ranking (62.8 percent) followed by economy drivers (54.2 percent). Only a few SUV/truck drivers feel they wouldn’t get a parking ticket (21.4 percent).

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